Dust settles after big day with veto override votes

General Assembly overrides 10 vetoes, a record for the modern era

Sep. 13, 2013

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JEFFERSON CITY — Although Gov. Jay Nixon successfully blocked veto override attempts of two major Republican pieces of legislation, he failed to stop a host of other bills.

In total, the General Assembly overrode 10 of Nixon’s vetoes on Wednesday, by far the most in the modern era since a two-thirds majority has been required to override.

Before Wednesday, the most vetoes overridden with a two-thirds majority happened in 2003, when the legislature killed three vetoes by Gov. Bob Holden.

House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, having been defeated by Nixon on his attempt to override the veto of a tax-cut bill he had trumpeted, played up the number.

A statement from Jones referred to an “unprecedented” number of veto overrides. He challenged Nixon to call lawmakers into special session if he believes the bills have flaws.

“It is time for him to admit his vetoes were political in nature and not at all in the best interest of the Missouri citizens he was elected to serve,” Jones said.

The vetoes overridden this week covered a wide variety of issues.

One bill requires people providing emergency foster care to submit three sets of fingerprints, instead of two. Another allows elected officials to vote via videoconferencing, which is currently not allowed. Another will shield the Doe Run Company in eastern Missouri from the possibility of high-dollar judgments in some lawsuits.

Also overridden: Senate Bill 129, which helps shield from liability health providers who volunteer their services. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, handled the bill in the House.

During a late-night vote to override the veto, Burlison said the bill is about providing free care to people who need it. In his veto letter, Nixon wrote that current law already protects providers.

“I had spent the whole day trying to convince Democrats who had originally voted for it to keep their original vote,” Burlison said.

Nixon, speaking while the legislature continued to work Wednesday, sought to downplay the number of overrides.

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“First of all, I don’t look at this like some sort of scoreboard. This is not junior high where you look at some sort of scoreboard and say how many did you get? This is real serious business,” Nixon said.

Minority leader Rep. Jacob Hummel, D-St. Louis, on Thursday added to Nixon’s comments, saying that while he is disappointed in the number of bills overridden, most of the bills were “inconsequential.”

“I’m sure the speaker ran up the numbers — maybe I would run up the numbers, too, if couldn’t get any major piece of legislation passed this year, but it is what it is,” Hummel said.

Burlison said that while the overridden bills were not tax cuts, they were significant. Still, he said it is unlikely the General Assembly will ever again override so many vetoes.

Despite calling the veto session historic, Jones mostly faced questions about the failure of House Bill 253, a tax-cut bill, in appearances on conservative talk radio Thursday.

“There was a lot of questioning, especially from yours truly, as to what happened in Jeff City yesterday,” talk show host Dana Loesch said before introducing Jones.